Zen Meditation Is the Use of Consciousness to Investigate Tathagatagarbha

Ch'an practice involves using the conscious mind of sensory perception to seek the Tathāgatagarbha, which transcends sensory perception. To realize the mind and perceive true nature, one must employ the method of investigating a huatou (critical phrase) in Ch'an meditation. This practice entails using the conscious mind—specifically, the discerning mind endowed with wisdom-associated mental factors—to investigate the Tathāgatagarbha, as only the conscious mind possesses this functional capacity. However, investigating the Tathāgatagarbha must be undertaken with sufficient meditative stability. It is best to arouse a state of "doubt sensation" within, maintaining skepticism toward all activities of the Five Aggregates (form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness). One should persistently keep that doubt sensation suspended in the mind or hold a huatou in contemplation, then delve into examining this doubt until it is ultimately resolved.

Avoid crude analysis, intellectual thinking, or imagination with the conscious mind. Such emotional reasoning and conceptual understanding can, at best, lead to intellectual comprehension (解悟), not genuine realization (证悟). It cannot give rise to true wisdom and may not even achieve intellectual understanding. If one attains mere intellectual comprehension rather than actual realization, it becomes exceedingly difficult for prajñā (wisdom) to arise. The subsequent path will be arduous to traverse, and afflictions will prove hard to subdue. It would be far better to solidify one's foundation comprehensively before seeking awakening. When realization occurs upon a firm foundation, the wisdom attained will be profound and incisive, afflictions can be effectively subdued, and one will obtain genuine merit and beneficial fruition.